It's long been one of the natural laws of the musical world: new dance crazes always look stupid. From the Twist to the Egyptian, from disco to the Macarena, from krumping to the Superman dance, they all look daft. (Except break-dancing. Break-dancing is cool.)

But France, of late, takes the cake. The hottest thing in Parisian nightclubs, according to Reuters, is a trend called Tecktonik, spurred by a night (named the same) that debuted 10 years ago. The music is a high bpm electro, similar to Daft Punk but somehow even more repetitive. Fans wear big, anime-style haircuts, Day-Glo t-shirts and skinny jeans that seem plucked from bad 80s music videos. And they dance like idiots.

We don't say this lightly, but we also don't say it particularly disparagingly. Dancing like an idiot has a long and proud history. And judging from the Tecktonik videos that have multiplied like rabbits in recent months, these dancers are some of the finest examples we've had the pleasure to watch.

First of all, they don't much move their feet. A little of to-ing and fro-ing, yes, but Tecktonik dancers do not seem proponents of fancy footwork. Instead they use their hands. A lot. They throw them up and around and in front of them, they tug on their heads and make knots with their arms. They behave like their arms are eels, not arms, and like they're squirming every which-way.

It's captivating.

"Tecktonik videos are among the most-watched on our service," a representative from the video site Dailymotion told Reuters. The video for Mondotek's Alive single, released in November, has attracted almost two million views. The clip is fairly lo-fi, just dancers and a song, but their writhing is at once idiotic and utterly mesmerising.

Though the movement's expanded beyond their sphere of influence, Tecktonik was invented - and trademarked - by two dancers called Cyril Blanc and Alexandre Barouzdin. Everything from mobile phones to hair salons have been emblazoned with the Tecktonik name. "It involves fashion, visuals, music and dance," a French record exec explained, "with maybe graphic arts a bit behind."

Unlike traditional European ravers, Tecktonik dancers spurn drugs and alcohol. In this sense, they recall the Straight Edge punk scene. Except, of course, that Straight Edge punks would take one look at Tecktonik kids and run oi-ing in the other direction.

And while for the moment Britain seems buffered from the Tecktonik explosion, it may only be a matter of time. Moby's Disco Lies single has been remixed by the genre's DJ Dim Chris, Janet Jackson's been spotted trying the dance, and overtures have been made by Blanc and Bazoudin to the likes of Kanye West and Madonna.

Who knows? Maybe at your next family wedding, Gran and Aunt Dolores will be squirming along to the latest Mondotek hit.